Advice for First-time Posters on OpenWrt Forums

The OpenWrt Forums provide a wealth of timely information about OpenWrt. Here is some advice from a long-time OpenWrt user to review before posting a question there:

Introduction

Many questions that users ask on these forums have been answered (many times) before, or are already answered better and more simply in The Fine Manual.

OpenWrt has what is likely the most comprehensive usage and technical documentation for open router firmware, and for a large number of routers as well. So please make use of the available resources before asking on these boards. Both you and the OpenWrt project will benefit!

Before you ask a question...

If you run into trouble or see something that looks “wrong”, take a quick look through these resources to see if you notice something that looks similar. You may find the answer, and will definitely look as if you have done your homework when you ask the question.

The OpenWrt Documentation – Please look here for information or answers before asking questions. There are links to installation guides, configuration guides, HOWTOs and recipes, etc. Very useful and rich!

Asking a question (so that someone takes time to help you)

Efficient, helpful way to ask a question

Could someone help me, please? I'm having a problem with fill in your router make, model, version.
The bad thing I'm seeing is fill in your problem, error message, symptom, etc.. Has anyone seen this problem before? I searched the forums but didn't find anything related to this. Thank you.

Inefficient, unhelpful way to ask a question

There's a problem with OpenWrt because I can't get it to work. One of you experts, fix this for me! What, can't any of you geniuses figure out what's wrong???

If you don't receive an answer right away

–Please be patient! There are many regular forum readers who have the knowledge and experience to help you. However, not all of them check the boards every day. Even regulars might only catch up on posts a couple of times a week. To quote user tapper, “I know it can be a bit scary when your router will not boot or do what you want it to do but posting over and over will not get you an answer any faster.”

So, if you don't get any replies or offers of help, please wait a few days. Your patience will often be rewarded. In the mean time, keep searching, via Google or the forums, and refining your search. You may find the answer yourself if you dig a little deeper

After you get an answer or solve your problem

i.)Please come back to the thread where you asked questions and post the answer or solution that worked for you. This will help future users search for and find a solution.

ii.) If you started the thread, please edit the “Topic subject” so it starts with “[Solved]”.

In summary

Even though you're a newcomer, please don't be afraid to ask questions in the Forums. They are, in general, a very friendly place! However, please do try to do some homework first using the above resources.

We hope you enjoy and benefit from OpenWrt as much as the old hands do – cmsigler, 2016/03/08

Note: Polished versions of this information should be fed back to the this thread in the OpenWrt Forum, especially for consideration as a sticky topic.